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People invited to join show By Jason Schaefer Food Network to film at restaurant Saturday Early next year, The Food Network will unveil a new TV show and Louie Mueller Barbecue will be a part of it, along with some customers who visit the restaurant during the film shoot Saturday. In addition to sneaking behind the scenes to learn a little bit about how Wayne Mueller runs the business and how pit master Lance Kirkpatrick prepares the meat, the film crew will interact with guests, getting feedback, their thoughts on the food and their memories of the restaurant and its previous owner Bobby Mueller, Wayne Mueller’s father, who died earlier this year. “Obviously, we’d like to have as many people there as possible,” Wayne Mueller said. “By that same token, the people themselves will have the opportunity to be interviewed and be part of that segment when it airs on the Food Network.” The restaurant has been featured on the Food Network before. “Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives,” hosted by Guy Fieri, now one of the network’s top-rated programs, featured Louie Mueller in its pilot program in February 2007. The new show features host Adam Gertler of The Next Food Network Star. The restaurant has received a number of other recognitions in the past few years, including frequent top-five nominations in Texas Monthly for the quality of its barbecue and the atmosphere of the restaurant. “I was involved in the first Food Network show, and also the official ‘best of’ series when they came, so it’s something I have been involved in over the last couple of years,” Mueller said. “But, this is something that has been going on for a decade or more. Personally, I’m just honored to be considered, and for the restaurant to be considered, in a program like this.” Though Wayne Mueller has chosen to follow in his father’s footsteps to keep the restaurant alive and kicking as always, he does not take credit for its success. “I think it’s just a testament to my father who created a business and a restaurant that is one that people are interested in and that it’s something they wish to return to again and again,” Mueller said. “That all goes back to him. It’s not anything I did, it’s all residual from what he’s done.” Mueller is still in “transitioning mode,” he said, working to become fully acclimated to the job, its responsibilities and the operations that keep it running. He will make few changes to the restaurant and the well-known barbecue that remained consistent under his father’s ownership, but he does plan to expand the business. “One thing is expansion in services like catering,” Mueller said. “We’re looking at catering off-site to be able to serve people at their events, instead of packing up the food and just sending it out.”
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